Enewsletter

Notes
from Vegan Outreach

Rocking
Summer Outreach for the Animals

So
far in 2013, activists across the country and
around the world have handed Vegan Outreach
booklets to 504,340 individuals at concerts,
festivals, parades, and other venues!

Over
300,000 of these individuals were reached at
this summer’s Warped Tour, a concert series
that travels across the country.

Well before the tour begins, Vegan Outreach
designs and prints a Warped-Tour-specific
booklet, using quotations and photos from
veg members of the various bands who will be
part of that year’s tour. Every summer,
Vegan Outreach organizes the schedule, arranges
housing, and ships hundreds of thousands of
booklets for our crew traveling with the Warped
Tour. Over the years, Vegan Outreach has worked
with many individual activists as well as other
groups – including FARM, The Humane League,
Mercy For Animals, Action for Animals, Compassionate
Action for Animals, and many others – to make
sure we reach as many interested people as possible.

This year 162 activists took
part in Warped Tour leafleting – with
Vegan Outreach intern Ben Sylvester distributing
38,620 booklets at a record 37 of the 40 stops! Thank
you so much to all the amazing leafleters who
put in long days in the hot, hot sun.

And a special thank
you to all of Vegan Outreach’s dedicated donors.
If not for you, these booklets wouldn’t be developed,
printed, shipped, and handed to all these individuals.
Your support is changing lives every day, and
we thank you for making this powerful and necessary
work possible.

Notes
from Our Members

Above are concertgoers at the Warped Tour stop in Detroit, photographed by Chelsea Button, shown below at the Minneapolis stop.

This
year’s Warped was amazing. We
were received so well, kids were really nice,
and it bolstered our sense that the number one
way to change the hearts and minds of society
in regards to how we treat animals is to do
outreach to youth. Amazing to watch so many
people so engrossed in reading the booklet,
to overhear so many conversations about veganism.
This work is definitely a conversation starter;
it gets people who otherwise wouldn’t be discussing
this issue, discussing this issue. The hundreds
of starter pack requests that have come in over
the last two months are testament to the fact
that leafleting youth gets the goods.
Too many stories to relate from my time on
the tour. Having Oli Sykes on the custom booklet’s
cover has been huge. So many kids say, “It’s
Oli Sykes!” or “Really? Oli Sykes
is a vegetarian?” Brian from the band Rosedale
– who play each day on the tour – became friends
with Ben and helped leaflet as well; Brian now
plans to go fully vegan! At the Minneapolis
stop, a member from the band Silverstein walked
up to Chelsea [right] to say that his band should have
been featured in the booklet, since they’re
veg. That was nice to hear – bands who care
about this issue and who want to be in the booklet!
In addition to the dozens and dozens of volunteers
who took time out of your busy schedules to
join us in your city or to travel along for
several dates, this year’s Warped Tour wouldn’t
have been the smashing success it was without
Anne Green, John Oberg, Ali Pester, Nathan Shin,
and Ben Sylvester.
But none of this work would be possible without
you donors on this list who work hard at your
jobs and donate to ensure that today’s youth
are reached with a message of kindness towards
animals. We gave our absolute all this summer
to guarantee that your generosity did as much
good as possible. Once again, our most profuse
thanks for making this happen.—Jon Camp, 8/5/13

It was so good to be back
on the pavement at the Detroit Warped stop.
My buddy Rob (who isn’t even veg) and I showed
up at 4:00, joined shortly by the Button. Within
minutes we were joined by the all-star crew
of the Pest, the Beast, the Shinbone, and the
Camp. Philboy and Matt showed up a little bit
after and we spread out. Stephanie [Bay, right], who I met
at Michigan VegFest when I was tabling, joined
later and the awesome Beau of FARM helped us
out at the end. We offered a booklet to nearly
everyone, and 7,900 accepted.—John Oberg, 7/19/13

When the Warped Tour volunteers
left my house, they couldn’t fit all their leaflets
in their car. So Angelica, Lizbeth, and I leafleted
Vegas’ First Friday event. We met lots of interested
people, including teens who said, “Oh, I
got this at Warped Tour. Can I have one for
my friend?”—Elaine Vigneault, 7/6/13

Pulled in so many different directions
at the Ventura stop of the Warped
Tour. One enthusiastic first-time attendee now
wants to get involved in leafleting! We were
nearly trampled while leafleting the exiting
mob, and I had to leaflet with a box between
my legs to keep stocked with lit., but it was
totally worth it to reach so many young minds!
Thanks Ethan, Victoria, and Ben for a memorable
night – and for your amazing work on the tour!—Barbara Bear, 6/23/13

Solid night on Fountain Square
during the Friday concert event.
Most people were very receptive to the literature.
I encouraged the vegetarians I met to take a
leaflet and give to a friend. The highlight
was a young woman, who got a booklet earlier
in the evening, telling me the information was
very enlightening and that it “had a great
impact” on her. She thanked me for being
out there and asked for a few extra leaflets
to take with her.—Rich Sheer, 6/14/13

The crowd was incredibly receptive
at the Artscape festival. Sarah,
Kate, and I had great conversations. For instance,
a teenager, who said he went vegan recently,
was excited to get a booklet; we had a good
conversation about vegan health and weight-training.
Tons of people were excited to get a booklet!—Aaron Ross, 7/22/13

My second year leafleting
the Bud Billiken Parade, the largest African
American parade in the country; I was thrilled
to team up with Jovan to hit it. Very high reception
among the friendly and curious crowd. Lots of
people stopped with questions about the leaflet,
the treatment of farmed animals, and veg eating.
Good outreach and a fun event to cover.—Leslie Patterson, 8/10/13

Very
good reception at the Grayslake Summer Days
festival! Many people were asking questions
and wanted to help stop animal cruelty. One
person said that she was going to look into
having her company donate to VO!—John Jungenberg, 8/16/13

Nathan Shin offers Compassionate Choices at NYC Pride.

At
the Long Island Pride Parade, I
combined my dance moves with the opener, “Info
to help animals, widen your circle of compassion.”
Outstanding reception rate!—Jennifer Greene, 6/8/13

Brian,
Alan, Haz, Chad, Stephanie, and I went
downtown and handed out 886 Compassionate
Choices around the Art Institute of Chicago
area. Numerous people stopped to thank the team
for getting out and educating people about the
ills of factory farming. Among those people,
many were either vegetarian or vegan. We had
bikers, runners, and even those on Segways take
a booklet. A woman who was standing in line
to get into the Art Institute of Chicago told
me to turn around because a cab driver wanted
to read one.—Becki, 7/9/13

Today was Mark’s first day leafleting
and he seriously rocked it, along with Ethan.
Together, we reached 1,300 mostly 12-to-16-year-old young women at the One Direction concert
with the case for compassion. Many were in long
lines waiting to get in the venue, and the booklets
started countless conversations. Epic outreach
and a special day for many concert attendees
who now are new vegans. Met several parents
and concertgoers who were already vegan, and
gave them Guides.—Vic Sjodin, 7/22/13

Reached 300 people at
the Beach to Beacon race. I was
wearing my Team Vegan shirt and was happy to
have a presence, speaking for the animals. One
man said, “Team Vegan…tell me more.”
We had a nice chat.—Lana Smithson, 8/3/13

Vegan
Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
dedicated to reducing the suffering of
farmed animals by promoting informed,
ethical eating.